The Empire of Ancalagon
For the past thousand years, the dragon Ancalagon has slept, resting within his mountain fortress. Prior to his hibernation, all of southern Veslen was his domain. For over six-hundred years he reigned over the inhabitants of the continent, establishing a great hold in the Caerne Veil, the mountain range that lies to the southwest, surrounded by vast plains. Over the course of a grand campaign, he subjugated the reigning tribes, making them his subjects and worshippers, claiming their treasures, and taking magic users as his personal servants. At the height of his power a dozen dragons served him, and thousands inhabited his empire. Through the combined might of the mages bound to his service, and the power of his own kin, Ancalagon’s rule was strong and his power almost entirely unchallenged. Those who did defy the dragon did not do so for long. During their lifetime, all dragons must hibernate. When, and for how long is difficult to say, and very few in the world today know enough of dragonlore to make a guess as to what may influence the process. When he first felt the sleep begin to overtake him, Ancalagon instructed his servants to maintain the realm while he slept, and to not take any unnecessary risks. Retiring to his personal chambers within the highest peak of the veil, at the very center of the mountain range, he slept. The end of his slumber was, to say the least, not what he had expected. A small group of orc raiders, driven from their ancestral roaming grounds to the northeast, had found an entrance to his fortress home while searching the Veil for a place to settle. They spent days wandering the abandoned chambers, marveling at the many incredibly spacious chambers, and at the complete absence of life within. It seemed as though the fortress had been built to house members of many different races of varying sizes, though it was in a state of rather marked disrepair. Stumbling upon the resting place of Ancalagon was an accident. Deciding to attempt to find the highest point within the fortress, the orc chieftain and several of his men found the sleeping dragon. Needless to say, it was a rather unsettling awakening. This was even more so for several of the braver orcs, who found themselves promptly burned to ashes. More would have found themselves subject to the same fate, had the orcish chieftain not drawn his blade and charged, shouting for his fellows to flee. Impressed, Ancalagon offered him a choice. He could be killed, and his people driven from the Veil, or he could swear fealty to the dragon, and his people would be given a home in exchange for their service to him. And so it was that the orcs of Uhur, led by the Chieftain Durburn gro-Gurag, came to serve the dragonlord of the Caerne Veil. Prior to his hibernation, Ancalagon had feared that he may awaken to find his kingdom weakened by his absence. But the reality far outstripped his fears. A ruined fortress, five hundred orc nomads, and an empty treasury were all that remained of his once great empire. The remnants of the libraries are unreadable, much of the valuables once housed within are stolen or destroyed, and a great many monsters have infested the remains of the mountain hold, rendering certain areas uninhabitable. Perhaps the worst setback, without his mage servants to act as a conduit, much of the magic he once wielded is beyond his reach. “All the same,” he muses, flying for the first time in a millennium, “I had even less at my disposal when I built my empire the first time.” Category:The Peoples of Nationbuilder V